Apple To Set Next Mobile Standards

However, it is logical to assume that if you're the leader in any particular industry or market, you are likely to be able to set standards for the rest to follow, whether they like it or not. Apple is certainly in this unique position to do just that with their iPhone platform.

According one report, Apple has a good chance of displacing Nokia as the top smartphone developer with 40% of the market share by 2013. That is a lot of mobile devices on which you can dictate to the market in terms of prices, features, and the level of innovation.

I'll get more into the various aspects of this potential Cupertino dominance later but it is incredible how far things have come since June 2007 when the first iPhone went on sale. Now, just about everyone is forced to have an app store for their mobile platform. Tie-in services are like to come from Nokia and Sony as Apple has with its web services.

Now, wireless standards. G4. To put it simple, it's WiMax. It's LTE. It's difficult to figure out just where Apple would go as more and more mobile users are likely to choose the iPhone as their mobile platform. When it comes time to negotiate new terms with wireless providers, it potentially provides Apple with the leverage to demand for more features to be accessible over the data network.

Should that happen, we can see potential for new changes in mobile life. We'll get into whether Apple enclosed platform model is good for mobile warriors later on.